More Tomatoes for Deserts

I just stumbled upon your website and started reading the page on tomato varieties to grow in desert areas. I wanted to post a comment on the page but I see it's Facebook comments only and I won't use Facebook so I dug around until I found this.

A few varieties I've had tremendous success with in summer temps of 100+F and dry, dry, dry air that aren't on your list are:

Amish Paste (most awesome paste I've found for this desert, thrives where Romas fail)Super Sioux (nice slicer and canner)Cherokee Purple (another great slicer and canner)Black PlumStupice (small, sweet salad tomato and if set out by mid-May can be ripe by the first week in July)Wonder Light (yellow, lemon-shaped paste with slightly lemony flavor)Tip Top (determinate--one year they had a beautiful crop and the chickens got out of their pen and stripped the vines of every fruit, they set another crop and still had plenty of time to ripen before frost)Mortgage Lifter (they are pretty much everything they're claimed to be: large, beautiful, meaty and tasty fruits)

Comments for More Tomatoes for Deserts

My list for tomatoes temps range from 110 to 70 at night during June - August early girl - Rutgers - yellow pear - box car wille - all brandywine a do great also Oregon spring _ black krim did well 1 big harvest then they died best tasting as we'll iam an organic Gardner and have been trying different varieties each summer for the last 5 years here in Hesperia ca

Mar 09, 2015Rating

Low Desertby: Sandy

I've had minimal success with tomatoes, considering the water they require in the low desert. However, here are a few that I've had success with from time to time: Rutger's Improved, Early Girl, Prime Beef Goliath Hybrid, Super Suoix, and Yellow Pear. It's important to enrich the soil with lots of organic material (compost) and to use a mulch layer on top of the soil to conserve water. Working in compost to the soil helps the desert soils hold moisture. Mulch helps protect the soil from sun and wind so it remains a good temperature for the roots, and prevents evaporation of water.

Jun 07, 2014Rating

Porter's tomatoesby: Anonymous

If you want Porter tomatoes, seeds are available from Burrell's Seeds at Rocky Ford, Colorado 81067. I have grown Porter's tomatoes from their seeds for years, with great results.